Morning Reads: Chicago PD Operates a "Black Site"; Obama Vetoes Keystone

Good morning!

On this date in 1968, just weeks before the infamous My Lai Massacre, South Korean Marines entered the village of Hà My in South Vietnam’s Quảng Nam Province and gathered the villagers — almost all women, children and the elderly. Their commanding officer gave what would later be described as a long, impassioned speech. Survivors of what followed would later say that they believed they would be offered food or gifts, as had occurred during previous missions to win “hearts and minds.” Instead, the officer signaled troops concealed in the nearby bush, who opened fire with automatic weapons and grenades, murdering 135 townspeople. No one was ever held accountable for the Hà My Massacre.

War on Terror comes home –> In a must-read investigative report for The Guardian, Spencer Ackerman writes that “the Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound” that disappears Americans from their family and friends “inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.” He writes that it “is the latest example of Chicago police practices that echo the much-criticized detention abuses of the US war on terrorism.” AND: According to The Atlantic’s Tanya Basu, the “black site” fits “within a larger story of corruption and violence — one that stretches back through Chicago’s long murky history of fighting crime.” Basu explores that angle with criminologist Tracy Siska, executive director of the Chicago Justice Project. MEANWHILE: The Chicago Tribune has an adamant, blanket denial by the Chicago PD.

Related? –> Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, loathed by many in the city’s progressive community, found himself in an unexpected runoff in his bid for re-election on Tuesday. In a post written before Tuesday, The Atlantic’s David Graham notes that “the X-factor” seems to be black voters, whom Rahm needs in order to fend off challenger Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. How or whether the new revelations about his police department will affect the vote in the next round remains to be seen.

As promised –> Barack Obama vetoed a bill forcing approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, although HuffPo’s Kate Sheppard reports that the door’s still open for the project to be greenlighted at a later date. AND: Drew DeSilver of Pew Research notes that, if historical trends hold true, we should expect a lot more vetoes from the White House in the next two years.

Now, with extra red meat –> The Republican National Committee promised to avoid the “circus” of the 2012 primaries by selecting sympathetic moderators for the 2016 debates, and on Tuesday they announced that conservative talk-radio host Hugh Hewitt would take the lead in a September 16 debate on CNN. Bloomberg’s Dave Weigel talked to Hewitt about what kind of questions he wouldn’t ask the candidates. AND: At TAP, Paul Waldman welcomes the change — and thinks Dems should follow suit — because partisan moderators should be more familiar with “ideology, where the important rifts are, and what’s animating primary voters.” RELATED: A new poll out yesterday finds Scott Walker opening up a significant lead on Ben Carson and Jeb Bush — and Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Rick Perry and Marco Rubio’s support in the low single digits. ALSO: NYT’s Amy Chozick reports that Hillary Clinton, channeling Barack Obama circa 2004, recently told a Silicon Valley audience, “I’d like to bring people from right, left, red, blue, get them into a nice warm purple space where everybody is talking and where we’re actually trying to solve problems.”

FCC’s Net neutrality vote imminent –> After more than a decade of controversy and debate, the stage is set for Thursday morning’s vote on new rules. If all goes as hoped for and expected, the commission will reclassify broadband as a “common carrier,” a public utility like telephones, power and water. Our own Michael Winship explains.

“Junk science” –> The Intercept’s Liliana Segura has a gripping #longread about a Tennessee man who appears to have been wrongly convicted of murder by arson after his girlfriend was killed in a house fire. Segura writes that the case hinged on dubious testimony about “burn patterns” similar to the infamous case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was wrongly executed in 2004.

No charges –> The Justice Department will not seek charges against George Zimmerman in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Thursday marks three years to the day since Martin was killed. ABC News has the details.

The price of capitalism? –> As Cuba opens up to more private enterprise, “many poorer Cubans are frustrated by what they see as the deteriorating welfare state and the advantage that Cubans with access to cash from outside the country have in the new economy.” The NYT’s Randal Archibold has the story.

Abducted –> According to the independent Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Islamic State fighters “carried out dawn raids on rural villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority west of Hasaka” and abducted 90 villagers. Suleiman Al-Khalidi has the rest of the story at Reuters.

Brownies ban –> On Tuesday, Alaska became the third state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The town of Wasilla, home to a famous former mayor, moved swiftly to pass a law banning the production of “pot brownies” at home, amid other restrictions. As the Alaska Dispatch News put it, “the city known for a freewheeling attitude about everything from big box stores to ATVs passed what may… be the strictest local laws governing recreational pot use.” AND: A Colorado marijuana company is working with New York rabbis to develop “edible marijuana products that are certified kosher,” according to the NY Post.

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